Delayed Reaction
by Ooobserver
Summary: Perhaps Jake never heard Flambo's girlish scream. Perhaps Finn was given a chance to give a better first impression, or at least, his OWN first impression. One-shot.


Finn lay with his arms behind his head, staring into the sky as his best bro carried him on his giant stretched out back toward their destination. The sky was nice and sunny today, not a cloud in sight. The teenager smiled as he felt the warm light touch his face. He let out a relaxing sigh, reminding the magic dog that he wasn't alone.

"Jeez Finn, you've been quiet. Everything ok bro?"

Jake's tone was concerned. It had only been a few days since his best friend had broken down over the loss of Princess Bubblegum's heart, again. Wanting the best for the young hero, he had attempted to go out and find a new lady for Finn, unfortunately, to no avail. The past few days, the human had remained quite silent.

Finn crossed his legs as he gazed at the endless blue expanse above.

"Yeah man, it's all good. Just enjoying the weather."

Jake stretched his face up to his back, checking on his bro.

"You sure dude. You were pretty bummed a few days back, and you haven't really been talking like you usually do."

The boy rolled over and got to his hands and knees, giving a smile to his worried companion.

"Relax Jake, I'm telling you it's fine. I think I might be doing some growing up, you know? Like, wondering if maybe I'm just not ready to have a lady yet."

The dog raised an eyebrow but slowly sank his face back onto his head. The duo was approaching their target fast. The Fire Kingdom was within sight, as blazing and hot as ever.

"I don't know. You haven't been reading that dumb relationship book have you? I keep telling you, it's all junk. Besides, you're at the age where a girlfriend is like, normal. You don't gotta restrict yourself man."

Finn leaned his upper body off of Jake's side, letting his arms freely swing in the wind.

"No man, I just really really think I should try it. Being a hero's more important, and a lady will just complicate things."

He punched his fist into his palm.

"Plus, it'll give evil guys less 'loved ones' targets."

The human's brother gave a skeptical look.

"Are you trying to say Lady is a weakness of mine?"

The boy laughed.

"Haha, well she's a better one to have than pies, sandwiches, or ice cream."

Jake frowned a bit, unable to admit his friend was right. Thankfully, they were now near the borders of the Fire Kingdom, so the conversation could end and business could resume. The magical dog shrank back down to his normal size as Finn put his pack on and touched down beside him. The two began looking around for someone.

They checked under various rocks, behind bushes, and even up in a tree. Finn questioned the tree check.

"Dude, why would he be in a tree? It would burn down like crazy fast."

The yellow dog shrugged. He then heard a sneeze nearby. It was tiny and could only have been made by a certain flambit that the two adventurers happened to be looking for. Searching in a ditch, they saw Flambo apparently scouring for food in a pile of garbage. Jake cleared his throat to get the creature's attention.

"Huh? What? Oh! Hey yous guys," the flame sprite answered with his strong accent.

Finn leaned forward on his knees and smiled at the little fire elemental.

"Hey Flambo. Did you get PB's message to meet us here?"

The flambit tossed aside an empty can and hopped up to ground level to join the other two.

"You bet! Whatcha guys need?"

Jake reached into Finn's pack and grabbed a handful of strange black rocks. He held them out to the fire elemental, who eyed it hungrily.

"Peebles told us to ask you for a, what was it? Flame Shield?"

The dog scratched his head in thought. Meanwhile, Flambo took the chance while he was distrcted to leap up and grab the lumps of charcoal in his mouth, swallowing them a second later. His flames shot up, nearly doubling his size before settling back down. The creature rubbed his belly with satisfaction as Jake scowled at him for not being patient.

"Sorry brotha, but a guy's gotta eat."

Finn ignored the premature payment and got Flambo's attention.

"Anyway, could you give us them? We've got some business to take care of in the Fire Kingdom and Bubblegum said our butts would burn up if we just walked in."

The flambit laughed a bit before giving a thumbs up.

"Sure thing brotha. After all, that charcoal was delish."

The two adventurers watched as Flambo began a strange chant and formed various fire runes around his head. A moment later, he stretched his hands up and smacked the guys in their foreheads. They both complained as a red hand mark appeared on their heads but soon forgot about it as a mysterious blue shroud covered their bodies.

As the two admired the spell's effect, the flambit gave them a grin.

"There you gos. You'll be all safe against fire now. Good luck in the kingdom."

Finn reached out and patted the fire elemental on the head.

"Thanks Flambo."

However, the sprite recoiled and groaned as he rubbed the top of his temple. The two bros looked concerned.

"Are you alright dude?" Jake asked.

The flambit forced through a small smile as he continued to rub the throbbing spot on his head.

"Heh, yeah, I'm fine. It's just that a few days ago I was cornered by some jerky robot owls. One of the creeps pecked me right on the head."

The adventurers understood and hoped their friend would get better. With a final wave, they headed to the entrance to the Fire Kingdom.

The scorching land appeared quite hostile as Finn and Jake began to walk to the Fire Palace. The few fire elementals that they past gave the pair unfriendly stares. Jake looked nervous. He scooted up closer to his bro as the flame people continued to glare.

"Man, I don't like this Finn."

The human brushed off his best-bud's concern.

"Come on Jake, this place is math! Check out all the awesome lava. And those golems look wicked strong. You think I could fight one of them?"

The yellow dog rolled his eyes. He then shrank himself down and crawled up onto Finn's shoulder.

"Let's just focus on why we're here dude, I don't want to stick around long enough for these shields to wear off."

As Finn walked up to the palace front gate, two flame guards blocked his advance. They gazed menacingly at the human. Finn just calmly looked back at them.

"State your name and business, or die where you stand."

The hero raised his hand and grinned.

"I'm Finn the Human, here for business with the Flame King on behave of Princess Bubblegum."

The two guards narrowed their eyes but allowed him to pass. The doors slid open and Finn walked in. The inside of the building was decorated with a multitude of torches, which the boy admired as he made his way to the throne.

"This place would make an epic dungeon. Don't you think Jake?"

The dog grunted, irritated by how nonchalant his companion was being when faced with such a dangerous environment. As Finn neared the throne, he stopped when a certain object caught his eye. Hanging from the ceiling of the room was a large yellow lantern, which appeared to have a small fire glowing within it.

The human thought it was strange, containing such a small light source within such a huge container. Eventually though, he got over it and turned his attention to the large fire elemental sitting before him. The Flame King was glaring suspiciously at him, as if studying if the boy was a threat, or perhaps an easy target.

Unafraid, Finn came closer and took a strong bow. He looked back at the king and gave a polite smile.

"Hello your majesty. I'm Finn the Human. Princess Bubblegum sent me to get some stuff from you."

Jake nudged his brother's neck.

"Uh, I mean, acquire a certain item."

Flame King thought for a moment then rose from his throne. He approached the human and leaned down to study him further. His booming voice then echoed through the room.

"If it was so important, why didn't she come herself? Why send a lackey such as yourself?"

Finn couldn't help returning a small glare. Jake looked nervous as he hid behind the boy's hat.

"Hey man, I could kick any guy's butt in your kingdom, just try me."

Flame King growled a little, but Finn remained defiant, staring the fire elemental down. The fiery ruler then stood up straight and walked back to his seat. Setting himself down, he grew a malicious grin on his face.

"Very well then, if you're so confident. I'll give you what the gum lady wants, IF, you can make it to it alive!"

Flame King held up a strange orange cylinder, which Finn recognized as the object PB had asked for. However, every guard in the room was now charging at him. Instead of freaking out (like the tiny Jake was) he simply grew a determined smile on his face and pulled out his demon blood sword.

Before two of the guards managed to impale Finn with their spears, the human jumped up and dodged them, kicking the elementals in their faces as he was briefly suspended in the air. Another guard struck down with his sword, which the human blocked and easily parried, conking the man on the head with the hilt of his weapon. The guard fell to the floor, knocked out.

* * *

As all of this was going on, a certain fire elemental suspended high up in the room stopped her crying and listened carefully. She heard swords clashing and someone getting beat up by the sound of it. Actually, **many** guys getting beaten up. Standing up from her position against the wall of her prison, the curious girl looked down upon the scene in the throne room.

A strange blue colored boy was busy taking down several flame guards, either knocking them out, punching them out, or just simply kicking them in the boing-loins. He looked like he was having fun. The girl was intrigued, wondering who the visitor was. She pressed her hands against the glass of the lantern in an attempt to see better.

A moment later, one of the guards managed to get a shot into the boy's face, knocking off the odd headgear he was wearing. As the stranger kicked the guard away, his shoulder length hair revealed itself, flowing in the motion of the fighting. The girl found herself drawn to the sight, unable to look away.

* * *

Finn walked over and put his hat back on, while also spitting out a shot of blood from his mouth into his hand. He smiled.

"Nice, battle wound."

He pressed his hand against his blue shirt, smearing the fluid on the fabric. Satisfied with his 'trophy', the hero returned his sights to another wave of fire guards charging at him. Analyzing the room, Finn smiled at the hanging lantern above. His vision was blurry from the punch he received but he could swear the flame inside the object had grown, and appeared a little…humanoid.

Shaking off the dizziness, Finn acted out his plan, waiting a few more seconds for the fire guards to get closer before suddenly grabbing several swords from his defeated enemies and flinging them at the support cables for the glass container.

* * *

The girl within the lamp was frightened as the boy threw several weapons in her direction. Did he want to hurt her? She closed her eyes, preparing to be skewered by the flying swords. Instead, the blades snapped the three ropes holding her up, immediately causing her prison to drop with great speed. Terrified, she curled herself up and prepared for the impact.

* * *

Finn shouted in victory as the lamp crashed down on top of the flame guards, who all groaned and held their heads in pain. The human then proceeded to stroll past the devastated security forces of the Fire Palace and stopped next to Flame King's throne, holding his hand out and motioning for the ruler to hand over the canister.

The copper armored elemental was in shock. He simply let his mouth hang open as he tossed the cylinder to Finn, who thanked him and slid the item into his pack. Flame King then shook off his astonishment and looked back to the human. His expression: intrigued.

"Hm, quite the fighter you are. Apparently I misjudged you."

The fire being then let out a hearty laugh.

"Ha! And what a tactician, using my daughter's prison to take out the whole lot at once. That was genius!"

Finn's grin at the compliments faded as the king uttered the last part. The hero's eyes grew wide.

"What!?"

He swung his head to look back at the lantern, which lay shattered on top of the still disoriented flame guards. Within the remains of the lamp's bottom, the hero saw the flame from earlier. It was only now that he understood it was a fire elemental. Ditching the Flame King, Finn sprinted to the wreckage and hopped into the lantern's base.

Within the ruined flooring of the prison lay the unconscious form of the princess of flames, gently curled up in the corner of the mess. Her fiery hair was fallen in front of her face. Finn carefully gathered the girl in his arms and climbed out of the lamp's debris. The human laid the princess down against the wreck, giving her some support to sit up.

After a minute of waiting, the girl began to stir, shaking her head slowly as she regained her senses. Her flaming hair continued to fall around her face. Finn reached over to the fire elemental's head.

"Here, let me help you with that."

The boy delicately parted the princess's burning locks, revealing her golden eyes, still readjusting underneath. Finn suddenly froze, unable to move. His sight was stuck on the girl's deep amber gaze, which finally settled and looked straight back at him. For a few seconds, the two stared at each other. The human then realized his hand was still on the princess's bangs. He blushed, still frozen. The fiery girl did the same.

Flame Princess was the first to regain her composure. Her eyes narrowed and she swiftly shoved the hero away, standing up in the process. Her flames grew higher as she glared at the human now backing away slightly.

"What is wrong with you!? Why did you attack me you jerk!?"

Finn shook his head to regain his own sense and held up his hands defensively.

"No no! Wait! I wasn't, I swear! My face got jacked up and I couldn't see straight. I didn't know you were in that thing."

The princess approached the boy again. Oddly enough, his expression looked less like fear and more like concern. She was puzzled. Her flames remained high however.

"That really hurt! I should just burn you alive right now!"

Finn looked a little more uneasy now. From behind, he heard a strong laugh. Turning, he saw Flame King taking a few steps closer to the two of them. He clapped.

"Hahaha! What an enjoyable day this has been. Witnessing an outsider take down my guards, only to have my evil daughter bake him to a crisp. Such entertainment!"

Finn's expression turned to a glare. He fully faced the king, fists tightened.

"What the heck is your problem!?"

The fiery ruler stopped laughing and looked at the human with a stoic face.

"You keep your daughter in a freaking lamp AND you call her evil? She's a young girl for Glob's sake! You can't judge her like that and take away her freedom. **That **is evil!"

He turned to look at Flame Princess. The fiery girl was standing quietly, her flames had calmed down. Her face held a surprised and curious look. Finn set his eyes back on the king.

"She could be out having fun, hanging with friends, going on dates and other junk like that."

Finn blushed a bit on one of those comments. Flame King retained his stoic look for a few more moments before narrowing his eyes.

"Who do you think you are telling me how to raise my daughter you peasant?"

The human held his stance, not willing to back down.

"I'm Finn the Human, hero of Ooo, and I won't stand to have a princess locked away just because of a bad parent!"

Flame King growled, and then pointed a finger at the boy.

"Guards! Seize hi- oh, wait."

The ruler looked around to see all his men still lying on the ground defeated. He sighed.

"Well, it's rather un-kingly for me to just charge at some punk who entered the kingdom…"

He pointed again.

"Everyone else! Seize him!"

The various fire elementals were confused, unsure of what to do. Flame King grew his flames out.

"I SAID SEIZE HIM!"

The citizens jumped up and sacredly ran toward Finn. The hero quickly turned around and grabbed Flame Princess's hand. She blushed again. The human then pulled her along as they both went for the front gate. As it opened, the two guards protecting it stepped in and brandished their weapons, ready to halt the escaping pair.

Finn didn't give a second thought and took FP in his arms. Her face continued to redden. With several swift motions, the hero bounced into the air and used the guards' heads to step-stone out of the gate, leaving them barely able to stand up.

The human ran all the way to the edge of the Fire Kingdom, dodging all the elementals he'd seen on the way in. Luckily, flame shield was doing a great job of keeping his buns from being toasted. Eventually, the boy managed to reach the border between the fiery realm and the grasslands.

Exhausted, Finn placed Flame Princess back on her feet and took a seat against a nearby boulder. The fiery girl kept staring at him for a few minutes, before going over and joining him. As she sat down, the hero had one last thing to say.

"Listen, again, I'm really sorry about dropping you in that thing. I honestly didn't know anyone was in there."

He turned to gaze at Flame Princess.

"I mean, what kind of person would keep his own daughter from the rest of the world. There's so much out there."

FP's expression was curious.

"There's…a lot out there?"

Finn looked bewildered, until he remembered the girl probably never got out much, literally. The human smiled and turned a bit to face the fire elemental.

"Yeah! There's clear mountains, grassy plains, oh and dungeons, tons of awesome dungeons!"

Flame Princess raised an eyebrow.

"What's a dungeon?"

Finn scratched his head for a moment, thinking the best way to explain it.

"Um, well. It's like a cave where you can beat up tons of monsters and collect tons of shiny treasure."

The princess looked a bit excited. Her flames grew a little.

"You mean you can just destroy whatever you want and get pretty things in return?"

The human thought hard for a minute, thinking FP already seemed to have somewhat of a knack for burning stuff.

"Uh, yeah, basically."

Flame Princess looked up into the clear sky, staring at the blue canvas with her deep amber eyes. Finn couldn't take his own gaze off of the fire elemental. She was so…beautiful.

The girl suddenly turned back to the hero, a bit confused.

"What's beautiful?"

Finn covered his mouth and blushed, not realizing he had uttered the last word out loud. FP stared at him, waiting for a response. He improvised.

"Um, the sky! Yeah. See how it's so clear and pretty…and flows so nicely in the breeze, like a warm little fire, and has those, really attractive eyes, and that cute face, and…"

At this point, Finn was swept up in a trance as Flame Princess looked at him. Before she knew it, she was blushing at the boy's words, realizing that none of what he was saying had anything to do with the blank heavens above them. His big blue eyes were locked closely on hers, intent on not making a single blink. The girl felt her heartbeat increase as she leaned closer to the hero, thinking she could hear his now mumbling voice as he continued to describe what was clearly not the empty space above.

"But, there's nothing like that in the sky," the flaming princess said innocently.

Finn stopped talking, realizing his stupid brain had just jammed the words down to his throat and then pushed them out. His cheeks grew as red as the flowing hair of the girl next to him. He unconsciously began to lean toward her.

"Uh, no, you're right. But…there is, right in front of me."

The two young teenagers grew closer and closer to each other's faces, holding their magnetic stares. Eventually, as the distance grew to a few inches, they tilted their heads and closed their eyes. Even with his flame shield, Finn could feel the princess's warm breath striking his cheeks. His own heart rate jumped significantly.

Just as the pair could literally sense each other's lips and were drawn toward one another, a voice cracked the peaceful moment wide open.

"That's it! I'm putting my foot down!"

Both youngsters recoiled back as Jake jumped out from Finn's hat and grew himself back to normal size. His face was stern as he looked at his bro, now scooted a great deal away from the boulder.

"Dude, what the heck?"

The hero was truly upset at the interruption. His besty though, just continued to scowl and produced a small staircase on one of his stretchy hands.

"There's **tiers** man! You can just be skipping over to the second one!"

The dog angrily pointed to the first step on his stairs.

"You've got to get past hugging first!"

Finn was about to defend himself until he saw a massive blaze forming behind his bro-ham. Inside the mas of flames, he saw an enraged face with a red gem where its forehead would be. The fire growled.

"Who are you!? And give me one reason not to turn you to ash!"

Jake was suddenly quite terrified as he curled up on the ground shuddering. Flame Princess huge fire arm was about to strike at the cowering dog before Finn suddenly stepped between them and held out his arms. The princess grew more irritated.

"Why are you defending him!?"

The human looked seriously at the girl's fiery mass.

"He's my brother, and he's just looking out for me. FP please, he didn't mean it!"

After a few moments, the fire elemental calmed herself and returned to her humanoid form. Jake managed to get up and hid behind Finn's leg, still shuddering.

"You heard her dad man, she's flippin' evil!"

The girl frowned and looked down to the ground. The boy turned to his bro.

"Jake, she is not evil!"

Flame Princess looked up to the human. He continued his defense.

"Anyone who's imprisoned for as long as she probably has been would definitely have some trouble believing someone's not going to hurt her or just throw her back into the lamp. She's not evil, she's…passionate."

FP blushed again at hearing that word. Finn looked hard at his friend, who was contemplating the statement. Finally, he sighed and stared back at his bro.

"You're right dude. It's not cool for me to judge. I mean, I'm way more messed up than she is. Remember all the criminal junk I did? And that was for fun!"

Finn smiled a bit and rubbed the dog's head, who giggled at the gesture.

"Thanks for understanding man."

The human then turned back to Flame Princess, who was patiently waiting for him. He walked over and gave a grin.

"So, maybe you'd like a hug first?"

He felt a bit silly requesting the action but realized Jake was right, no sense taking things too fast. The fire elemental however, smiled back and nodded. Blushing, the two teens came closer and slowly put their arms around each other. FP's flames shot up as Jake stood by admiring how cute they looked together.

Finn was really enjoying the warm, he though it felt more real than earlier somehow. Maybe it was that he was actually holding her instead of just being near her. Maybe it was than he could feel both their heart beats as they embraced. Or, maybe it was something else, figuring that the heat was now starting to overwhelm him. Opening his eyes, Finn saw himself flickering between blue and his normal colors.

_Oh crud._

As the flame shield dissipated, his skin instantly began to blister and his shirt char. Reacting fast, he pulled himself out of the hug, trying to hold back several tears from the pain. Flame Princess appeared hurt as she looked at the human, but quickly lost the expression when she saw what had happened to the hero.

Several red burns had formed on his arms and part of his chest, which had been scorched after holes in his shirt had been turned to ash. The human grunted but managed to walk back over to the girl. She stared in astonishment.

"You..You're not…some weird blue fire elemental?"

Finn managed to chuckle a bit as he strained to control his burning pain.

"Nope, just a plain old human. Nothing special here."

The princess walked up and noticed the tears running down the boy's face. Curiously she reached out and touched one of them. It sizzled from her finger, sending a small pinching feeling up her nerves. She recoiled her hand, gasping.

"You're…just like a water elemental, you make water and I make fire. How can, how can we even be near each other?"

The girl was looking close to tears of her own. Finn, concerned, looked her in the eyes.

"No, Flame Princess, wait! There are ways around that."

The fire elemental listened closely with a few sniffles.

"Me and Jake have a friend. He can give me the protection I need to actually let us touch, just like earlier."

FP's face looked a little more understanding.

"So, that's why you were all blue?"

The human nodded.

"Yeah. That's how I could walk into your kingdom without catching on fire."

Flame Princess took a step toward the boy.

"You would go through all that, just to be with me? Defy nature?"

Finn took a step forward as well.

"Yeah…whatevs. I don't want you to be all alone, like back in that lantern."

He rubbed his arm nervously.

"Maybe, maybe tomorrow I could show you around Ooo? Even try to find a place for you to stay?"

Flame Princess took a moment then smiled.

"That sounds wonderful, Finn."

The two began to lean closer before remembering that it wouldn't end well. Shyly, FP instead placed a quick kiss on the hero's cheek. It hurt a little, but the act alone made up for it, causing him to blush. They stared into each other's eyes for a few more minutes before the fire elemental began to back up, giving the human a wave.

"Bye Finn."

"Bye Flame Princess."

As the princess turned to leave, Finn shouted one last sentence.

"Hey! I…I like you!"

The fiery girl turned back, slightly caught off by the statement. Eventually though, she found the voice to answer.

"I, I like you too."

With one last grin from both of them, Flame Princess shot herself off into the sky, leaving behind what Finn thought was a gorgeous streak of flames that gently dissipated while the princess of flames disappeared over the horizon.

Jake walked up and reaching into Finn's pack, taking out the orange cylinder that Princess Bubblegum had requested. The dog nudged his brother to snap him out of his stare and motioned for his friend to follow, beginning their journey back to the Candy Kingdom.

The whole way, Finn was lost in thought about the beautiful girl he had just encountered.

"Do you think it could work? Us being together, even with our opposite natures?"

The magical dog just groaned and rolled his eyes.

"One thing I do know is, we're gonna need a lot more charcoal…"

* * *

**_Just practicing the art of the one-shot. Comments are greatly appreciated._**

**_Hope you guys enjoyed. Later._**


End file.
